The Planetization Structure, Blueprint and Plan Provides
the New Coordinates and Scaffold to Change the World

Hundreds of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans Gather in Washington DC for
Winter Soldier

Iraq Veterans
Against the War

To mark five years
of the U.S. occupation of Iraq, Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW)
will gather beginning today through Sunday at the National Labor College
near Washington, D.C. to disclose the realities of U.S. war policy in a
public investigation called “Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan”.

Veterans and
civilian survivors of both conflicts will give public testimony and
share the eyewitness stories that have been censored from the American
public about the true human cost of these occupations. This testimony
also will reveal how the Iraq occupation is tactically un-winnable,
morally wrong, and has brought our military to its breaking point.

Winter Soldier: Iraq
& Afghanistan aims to:

Motivate veterans and active duty service members
to get involved in today’s growing GI resistance movement;

Hold both Democrats and Republicans accountable
for the illegal Iraq occupation they have jointly kept going.

The term, Winter
Soldier, is a play on the words of Thomas Paine who wrote in “The
Crisis” (1776) that summer soldiers, “shrink from the service of their
country” in times of crisis. In contrast, Winter Soldiers are those who
stand up for the soul of their nation in its darkest hours.

America’s
democracy is in crisis today, motivated by an economic addiction to oil
and empire, engaged in ongoing illegal occupation that has cost the
lives of hundreds of thousands, and stymied by a political process that
values moneyed interests more than the majority of the American people.

Over 35 years after
the first Winter Soldier investigation conducted by Vietnam Veterans
Against the War, America needs Winter Soldiers again. Continuing in this
tradition, IVAW’s Winter Soldiers are performing a difficult but
essential service to our country.

For the past five
years, Americans have heard from generals, pundits, and politicians
about the occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan, but they haven't heard
enough from those who have first-hand experience.

From incidents like
Fallujah and Abu Ghraib to the awarding of no-bid contracts, Winter
Soldier will show that wrongdoings and failures in Iraq and Afghanistan
are part and parcel of war policy set at the highest levels of power.
Troops are being ordered to do things that violate their conscience and
the rules of war.

As hundreds gather
to hear the Winter Soldier testimony in Silver Spring, Maryland,
thousands will gather simultaneously in their homes, houses of worship,
on college campuses, and on military bases around the globe to bear
witness to these stories via live broadcast. The Winter Soldier: Iraq &
Afghanistan proceedings will be carried via satellite on the Deep Dish
network, Free Speech and Link T.V., public access television stations,
the Pacifica Radio network, and via web streaming on
www.ivaw.org.

The horrible, honest reality of the American
occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan like you haven’t heard it before.